What language consists of

What does a language consist of? Any language… First, let’s look at what language actually is. Wikipedia defines a language as

“a structured system of communication used by humans based on speech and gesture (spoken language), sign, or often writing”.

Though there are programming languages used by humans to program computers… Sometimes, we can even speak of body language. So, is Wikipedia wrong? Not actually. It’s definitely right about a language being a system. There is a whole lot of different definitions of language. All of them are correct depending on the point of view. And I guess a generalized definition that would suit any possible point of view would be something like:

“A language is a communication system using a set of symbols and mechanisms of their interaction to convey a message”.

It may sound a bit complicated, but actually, it’s quite simple. As simple as… a construction set. Like Lego. Just like a construction set a language is used to incarnate your ideas. And just like a construction set, it uses construction blocks – symbols. A symbol is anything that has a shape and a meaning. So, a language consists of words, right? Well, thank you, captain.
Yep, that’s obvious. But that’s not all. If you look at construction sets, they’re not all the same. Each of them has a mechanism that keeps the blocks together and lets you actually use the set. Different construction kits will use different mechanisms. If we speak of languages, the other element of it is grammar. A language grammar is the set of mechanisms that make the words work… and work together. Just like all those cogs, bolts and magnets make the construction blocks work together in a construction set. The grammar basically consists of morphology and syntax. And there’s a whole lot of things that may be useful to know if you happen to learn a language. Including your own language. You can get to know about them here.